Amazon Reportedly Readying Launch of 10-Inch, Quad-Core Kindle Fire

Amazon is set to launch two new Kindle Fires, a 7-inch model and a 10-inch model. (Original Kindle Fire pictured above.) Photo: Jon Synder/Wired

Apparently, Amazon isn’t just working on the Kindle Fire 2 — the retail giant is also finally getting close to releasing its long-rumored 10-inch, quad-core Kindle Fire, according to a report from BGR. Amazon is set to launch both of its tablets in the coming month, offering improved build quality and materials.

The news of Amazon’s reported tablets comes hand-in-hand with Google’s Nexus 7 tablet announcement at Google I/O on Wednesday. The Nexus 7 tablet, which focuses on entertainment consumption, takes direct aim at the current Kindle Fire. And the form factor similarities between the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire are impossible to ignore.

From Wednesday’s announcements, however, it’s clear that the Nexus 7 trumps Amazon’s original Kindle Fire in hardware specs and overall build. Google’s tablet sports the same $200 price tag, but features a 1280 x 800 pixel display, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a 12-core Nvidia GPU, and 1GB of RAM. It also has a front-facing camera, and supports Bluetooth and NFC, none of which appear on the current Fire.

But Amazon’s tablets won’t be behind for too long. The company is bringing more tablets, with better specs, to the compete in the market. The 10-inch Kindle Fire model is expected to be come with a quad-core chip, a microUSB port, a front-facing camera, and an HDMI-out port. The new Kindle Fire 2 model will reportedly come with a higher-quality metal casing, as opposed to the the plastic of today’s Fire tablets.

“It’s really up a notch from the current Fire,” sources told BGR.

While other internal specs are still unclear, it would not be surprising if Amazon launched both tablets to be very competitive in specs and price with Google’s Nexus 7. According to reports, the tablets will launch in late July.